Bringing you the most intriguing angles to all St. Louis Blues stories

2017 Playoffs: Where is David Perron?

Yesterday, the St. Louis Blues took Game 2 of the series against the Nashville Predators to even out the series at one game apiece. Vladimir Tarasenko was up to his usual antics, scoring two goals, including the game winner late in the third period to lift the Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Preds. But the Blues can’t rely solely on Tarasenko to provide the scoring. The Blues need to get contributions from multiple lines to down the Predators and attempt to move on to the next series. There’s one guy in particular who hasn’t made his mark in the playoffs. That would be Blues right winger David Perron.

Perron is on the Blues second line, and has been paired with Patrik Berglund at center and Alexander Steen on the opposite wing for both games 1 & 2 of this second round series. But Perron hasn’t produced thus far, posting no goals and just one lone assist in seven games this postseason. His one assist came on Colton Parayko’s first period goal in game 3 of the series against the Minnesota Wild.

But Perron’s centerman, Berglund, is yet to score a goal in the playoffs either. But Berglund has tallied four assists through these seven playoff games. Steen hasn’t logged much time this postseason with 21 and 57, as Steen spent most of the first round centering the third line, since the Blues were without number one center Paul Stastny until game 5. Steen has netted two goals this postseason, and added three assists.

But the playoffs have never been kind to David Perron. Yesterday was Perron’s 26th career playoff game with the Blues. In those 26 games, Perron has only scored two goals, and assisted eight times, totaling 10 points. Perron also logged 24 PIM and a -3 rating overall. Yikes.

As games go by, the Blues are going to need their second and third lines to step up on the offensive end if they want to beat the Predators in what’s been a grueling series thus far. This isn’t to say that Perron is the only player that’s underachieved, but If guys like Perron don’t step up and score, the Blues could be in trouble. Tarasenko is great, but you can’t count on him scoring 2+ goals every game. Perron has been in this league since 2007, and knows what it takes. Here’s hoping the Blues have continued success as they head to Nashville for games 3 & 4.